‘Skipper’ of dinghy critically injured when he crashes it into anchored yacht on Gold Coast

A man is set to undergo surgery to remove a piece of wood that became “impaled” in his head when he crashed a dinghy into an anchored yacht on the Gold Coast.

The 47-year-old local man was travelling between Sovereign Island and Paradise Point when he crashed into the yacht near The Esplanade about 3.30pm on Sunday.

“It looks like this dinghy was certainly travelling at a rate of knots,” Acting Superintendent Scott Knowles told ABC radio on Monday.

“And there is some indication, at this stage, that alcohol’s been involved in this incident.”

Two men, aged 41 and 56, also aboard the dinghy escaped injury.

The injured man, who police said was the “skipper” of the dinghy when it crashed, was “impaled” by the “large piece of wood” that went “in through his head, in behind his eye”, Knowles said.

The trio arrived at the dock when they asked an off-duty doctor there to help remove the piece of wood, according to Knowles.

“(They) indicated they wanted to remove it then and there, at the scene,” he said.

“Thankfully the doctor was able to intervene ... and said, ‘This is not the time and place to be starting to remove that piece wood’.”

The man was taken Gold Coast University Hospital with what paramedics described as a “life-threatening” injury.

He remains in a critical condition on Monday and is set to undergo surgery to remove the foreign object from his head later in the day.

The two other men in the dinghy “scurried off” from the scene, Knowles said, but have since been found and are being questioned by police.

No one was aboard the yacht at the time.

Police are seeking the owners to alert them to the “significant” damage to the yacht, Knowles said.

A blood sample has been taken from the injured man to establish if he was drunk at the time of the crash.

Investigations continue.